The development of shore line areas and the need to restore beaches and coastal areas damaged by storms and erosion have created numerous dredging and filling projects. Typically, a dredging and filling project involves dredging an off-shore area and depositing the dredged materials on selected areas along a coast to expand the shoreline. In populated regions where land is at a premium, it may be desirable to increase the shoreline in order to construct new buildings or facilities. Along beaches, it is often necessary to deposit fill on a beach to repair damage done by a storm. In most cases, project technical specifications and regulations require the designated shoreline to be surveyed before, during and after the project.
Various methods have been used to conduct coastal surveys between the shore and the bordering benthic zone. The current survey methodology used on federal beach nourishment contracts typically employs Real Time Kinematic (“RTK”) global positioning systems (“GPS”) along the upland portion of the beach profile at low tide. This procedure can be used out into the surf to a depth where the rodman's feet do not leave the seafloor, as swimming is generally prohibited by United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) regulations. Hydrographic data is then obtained from a survey vessel operating at high tide and collecting data along the offshore and near shore portions of the beach profile; attempting to obtain overlap with the topographic data, as required by USACE districts. This requires the survey vessel to potentially enter the surf zone, which increases risk to personnel and equipment.
The survey vehicles currently being used have various problems, including restricted mobility, lengthy staging times, inability to operate in adverse weather or surf conditions, and lost time due to maintenance issues. Therefore, there is a need for a survey vehicle that provides safer collection of survey data in the surf zone, while also increasing productivity.